Blood Donor Clinic starts today

And Canadian Blood Services says they still have lots of appointment times avaiable for its Blood Donor Clinic in Kenora this week.
As many as 220 donors are expected over the next two days at Thomas Aquinas School.

Harvey Heather from Canadian Blood Services says its often difficult to get people
out to their summer blood donor clinics.

The Blood Donor Clinic will run from 4:30 this afternoon until 9:00 tonight and
then again tomorrow morning from 9:30 to 12:30.

Heritage Committee looks at protection for Rideout Cottonwood

Kenora's Heritage Committee is looking at a by-law that could protect an old tree in the north end of town.

The 300 year old eastern cottonwood in the Rideout area is one of oldest of its species in Ontario.

The Heritage Committee currently has by-laws which register and designate historical buildings and homes in Kenora, but nothing that can protect natural landscapes.

Committee members are currently looking into similar by-laws in communities elsewhere in Ontario.

A very wet weekend

It was a very wet weekend across northwestern Ontario, with the Kenora area
seeing the most rainfall.

About a months worth of rain fell in the city Saturday and Sunday,
while the Experimental Lakes area just east of the city had the largest
downpour, with 113.5 millimeters.

Bill Laidlaw from Signal Weather Services says were were expecting some rain this
past weekend, but perhaps not that much.

Sioux Narrows was also deluged with 94 millimeters of rain.

There was so much rain, that a section of Highway 71 just north of Sioux Narrows was covered in water, temporarily closing down that section of the road.

Kenora Judokas medal at Nationals

A couple of members of the Jaffray Melick Judo Club earned medals at the National Judo Championships
in Lethbridge over the weekend.

Kaitie Dennis led the medal parade with a pair of bronze medals.

Dennis placed third in both the Under 17 and Under 20 age groups, while Ben Dennis had to settle for a silver medal in the Under 15 division after a split decision in the gold medal match.

Luke Heatherington also completed in the Under 17 division and finished 5th in his weight group.

All four will remain in Lethbridge this week for the National training camp.

IJC agrees to management agreement on Lake of the Woods

The International Joint Commission has been asked to examine the development of a bi-national management of both Lake of the Woods and Rainy Lake.

Canada's chair Joe Comuzzi says the review will first focus on a governance model for the two border waters.

A final report is expected by the end of 2011.

Work to begin this week on Redditt Washout

The Redditt Local Roads Board is hoping for some emergency funding from the province

to help cover the cost of a major road washout.

A section of the road just north of the CN train tracks washed out last weekend.

Work crews are expected to begin repairing the damage and installing a new culvert
today.

About 25 feet of road were washed away by heavy rains during the last weekend of
June.

Local residents living on the north side of the CN tracks have to use a detour to
get to their homes.

Body of missing man located in Rainy Lake

O-P-P divers have recovered the body of a man who had been missing since Canada Day after falling out of a boat on Rainy Lake.


The body of 43-year-old Robert Mainville of Couchiching First Nation was found in an area of Duck Bay, yesterday morning.

The search by provincial police had been ongoing since last Thursday night when Mainville and another man fell into the lake.

The other man, whom police have not identified, was found alive that night and taken to LaVerendrye Hospital in Fort Frances for treatment.

Kenora's newest street named

The City of Kenora now has a new street.

Mike Richards Way was officially dedicated Friday afternoon at
a special ceremony at the Kenora Rec. Center.

The street named after the Philadelphia Flyer Captain runs along
side the Rec. Center.

Richards says he was surprised by the honor.

Richards is now gearing up for his Charity Golf Tournament
later this month at the Kenora Golf and Country Club.

He says a number of his Flyer team mates and at least one
member of the Chicago Black Hawks will be attending.

Fort Frances Plane Crash

No injuries are being reported from the crash of a float plane in Rainy River yesterday morning.


It happened in front of several people who were lined-up along the Fort Frances waterfront for the Canada Day parade.

The plane end up on its side several feet from the American side of the river with only its tail and left wing showing.

The cause of the accident is not immediately known, but a witnesses suggest that a strong wind at the time may have been a contributing factor.

American Tourists Found after Five Days in the Bush

A couple of american tourists are safe and sound after being lost in the bush in

northwestern Ontario for five days.

The married couple from Washington State had been flown into a camp on a remote
lake about 96 miles north of Red Lake on June 19th.

On June 24th, they suffered boat problems and were stranded downstream from their
cabin on Critchell Lake.

They stayed on the shoreline for five days until they were finally reported missing to
the OPP on June 29th.

The next day, the 67 year old couple were found after a joint search by a Ministry of
Natural Resources helicopter, an OPP Emergency Response Team and the tourist
outfitter.

The couple and their golden retriever are in stable condition, though the woman was
taken to hospital in Red Lake for observation.

More Special Events this weekend

The special events just keep rolling in Kenora.

After a spectacular fireworks display in Keewatin last
night, attention shifts to the harbortown area of Kenora
for the next two days.

Tonight the Winnipeg Symphony makes its annual summer time
return to the Big Tent.

And tomorrow, the Kenora BIZ will be celebrating National Aboriginal
Solidarity Day.

Events will be taking place downtown all afternoon, with
entertainment in the evening.

There will also be another fireworks display at 10:45 Saturday
night.

NOMA responds to Forest Tenure Changes

The Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association has mixed feelings about the

provincial government's plan to overhaul the forest tenure system.

Public meetings were held in May over a proposal to set up corporations
to handle forest management issues.

Anne Krassilowski is president of NOMA and says each community in the
region has different ideas on what they want to be done, but all are united
in the fact that they don't want any limits on the access to wood fiber.

Krassilowski says their main goal is to ensure that no more mills in northwestern
Ontario are closed as a result in changes to the forest tenure system.

Dedication Ceremony for Mike Richards

And it took a long time to organize, but Mike Richards will officially be recognized for

winning the gold medal at the Olympics this past February in Vancouver.

A ceremony honoring our Winter Olympian will take place at noon today at the Kenora
Rec. Center.

Richards won gold as a member of the Canadian Men's Hockey team.

He also captained the Philadelphia Flyers to the Stanley Cup finals last
month.

Everyone in the community is welcome to attend this afternoon's public event.

Redditt Washout

No word as to when a gaping hole in a roadway in Redditt will finally be

repaired.

A 25 foot section of the road just north of the CN rail line washed out last

weekend.

High water caused the washout and has also pushed water levels on

Basket Lake over its banks.

The lake has flooded a small portion of the road just north of the Baily Bridge.

For the time being, local residents who want to get from the south side of
the community to the north side have use a detour along the English River
road to the old dump road.

A section of the English River Road also washed out last weekend about

50 kilometers north of Redditt.

Accident closes Trans-Canada east of Dryden

OPP are investigating a collision on Highway 17 between Dryden and Ignace.


A collision between a semi-tractor trailor unit and a pick-up about 3 kilometers west of
Baskett Lake closed the Trans-Canada down for several hours yesterday.

When fire and rescue crews arrived at the scene, they found the tractor unit rolled over in the ditch, and the trailer partially across one lane of the highway.

The driver was removed from the vehicle with unspecified injuries.

The second vehicle involved in the head-on collision was a half ton truck that was cut in half on impact.

The driver was rescued from the burning halfton and transported to Dryden Regional Health Center.

Municipal Insurance tender approved

The City of Kenora will be staying with the Standard Insurance Brokers for its
municipal insurance policy.

Council held a special meeting Tuesday to approve insurance coverage for the next
year, starting July 1st.

The Standard came in with a price of 303 thousand dollars this year.

That's down slightly from last year's rate, which came in at 308 thousand
dollars.

Body located in Rainy Lake

The OPP in Fort Frances say the body of a 24 year old man who disappeared in Rainy Lake over
the weekend has been found.

The Underwater Search and Recovery Unit located the body of Clayton Windigo, no far from
where he disappeared on Sunday night.

Windigo had been diving off the Bears Pass Bridge with friends, just off Highway 11.

He entered the water around 8:30 Sunday night and failed to re-surface.

His body was pulled out of the water around 11:00 yesterday morning.

Keewatin Hosts Canada Day

Its going to be a busy couple of days in the Kenora area.


Canada Day Celebrations will be taking place tomorrow and all the events
this year will be in Keewatin.

Sharon Smith from the Keewatin B.I.Z. says they are excited to be hosting
July 1st celebrations tomorrow.

Events get underway starting at 9:00 tomorrow morning, culiminating with the
fireworks display at 10:00 over Portage Bay.

Organizers are reminding visitors that Ottawa Street will be closed to traffic
from 9:00 in the morning until 2:00.

Tourism Marketing working

Tourism Kenora says its pleased with the results of its latest marketing campaigns.


Two marketing campaigns have targeted the Winnipeg and southern Manitoba markets
over the past two months.

Tourism Development Officer, Heather Paterson says response to the campaigns has
been very positive.

The Escape to Ontario campaign was funded in part by the Ontario Tourism Marketing
Partnership, with Kenora acting as the lead.

The other campaign is called Choose Your Adventure and directs people to the
Stay In Kenora website.

Traffic Meetings

Something needs to be done to make Main Street South more pedestrian
friendly.

That seemed to be the prevailing feeling from a public meeting held this
morning on the downtown traffic design.

Maria Bagdonis from Young Drivers of Canada says there are definite
traffic issues with the Kenricia Corner.

Operations Manager Rick Perchuck says he's not keen to make changes to the
pedestrian cross-walks along Main Street, but suggests the left turn onto
1st Street South could be eliminated to move traffic more smoothly during
peak periods.